Plating Company Official Guilty For Discharging Metal Wastes Into Denver Sewers

The vice president of a Colorado electroplating company was sentenced by the U.S. District Court in Colorado to one year in prison and 100 hours of community service after a violation of the Clean Water Act.

James Cahill, vice president of AAA Plating, Inc. of Denver, allowed electroplating and metal finishing wastes with high concentrations of zinc, cadmium, copper, chromium and nickel to be discharged into the Denver municipal sewer system between 1995 and 1996, said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He ignored repeated warnings by civil authorities that such discharges were illegal.

The release of these metals into sewers can damage sewage treatment equipment and can kill bacteria needed for the proper treatment of sewage in treatment plants. AAA Plating was previously sentenced on May 24 to pay a fine of $230,000 for a role in this offense.